KWC

KWC STORY

KOREA WINE CHALLENGE KWC STORY

PURPOSE

- ESTABLISH A MARKETING STRATEGY FOR THE SETTLING DOWN OF A SOUND WINE CULTURE IN KOREA

HOSTED BY

MONTHLY MAGAZINE SPECIALIZING IN WINE

KWC 2017 selects the best wines for the Korean palate

This year marked the 13th anniversary of Korea’s one and only International Wine Competition, known as the Korea Wine Challenge (KWC), hosted by the monthly magazine <Wine Review>. Under the slogan of ‘Selecting the best quality wines for the Korean palate to introduce the most trustworthy wines to customers,’ KWC has made dedicated efforts to develop the Korean wine market over the past 12 years. Domestically, KWC is considered an unparalleled platform for identifying global trends in the wine industry, while being one of the useful indicators for overseas wineries to consider when preparing to enter the Korean market. The judges for the KWC 2017 consisted of wine experts including practicing sommeliers working in close contact with the general public, and wine importers who actually import fine wines into Korea through carefully researching the preferences of the general population.

For KWC 2017, a total of 810 wines from 23 countries were exhibited, constituting an array from the most diverse set of countries in the competition’s history. Once again, there were stand-out wines from countries that are less familiar in Korea, including Greece, Romania, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, and Indonesia. The participation rate for sparkling wines was 9.1 percent, significantly higher than the average of 4 to 5 percent seen in previous years. A range of sweet wines and fortified wines were also exhibited. It is distinctions like these that give KWC its unique position in Korea as a prestigious international wine competition. By reflecting the expansion of the internationally strong sparkling wine market, KWC can be seen as leading the diversification of the Korean wine market.

Over the last two weeks, from Monday, June 12, through Friday, June 23, all of the wines that participated in this competition were categorized according to country of origin, variety, blending ratio, oenology and price, as well as being evaluated through impartial and strictly monitored blind tasting. The competition adopted a 100-point scoring system in which a default score of 50 points was given to all wines entering the contest as a courtesy for the effort of sending a bottle of wine for the competition. The remaining 50 points were strictly and fairly evaluated by a select panel of judges in the following categories; 6 points for the ‘color and appearance’, 12 points for ‘aroma and bouquet’, 20 points for ‘flavor and finish’, and 12 points for ‘harmony and balance’. To ensure impartiality, a brand-new panel was assembled, and the selection criteria and regulations for judges were made even more rigorous, as befits an internationally reputable competition whose global recognition has increased with every passing year of its 13-year history. With 19 judge facilitators added for the first time since the KWC began, the panelists for KWC 2017 also included the existing judging panel of 26 and 12 new panelists drawn from award-winners or otherwise qualified judges. For one year, the 19 judge facilitators will serve as ambassadors promoting the award-winning wines from KWC 2017, for instance, by writing feature articles related to the event 2017 and taking part in marketing activities, such as tasting events for award-winning wines.

The inclusion of a variety of quality fine wines has raised the international reputation of the KWC to global status and opened wider opportunities for the Korean wine market. As for the KWC 2017’s awards, ‘Trophies’ were given to the best wines in seven different categories: Red, White, Sparkling, Rose, Sweet, Ice, and Fortified. Additional awards, equally prestigious to a trophy, were bestowed on wines scoring over 94 points, including products from 13 countries. A total of 11 Best Reds and 2 Best Whites with the highest points were awarded among wines from nations with the highest number of entries this year. Best Country awards went to Argentina, Australia, Chile, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, USA, New Zealand, and the Czech Republic. This year a Red wine from Romania and a White wine from the Czech Republic showed more superb quality than ever, leading their nations to win the Best Country awards.
Those 11 Best Red wines contended with each other to clinch the one and only ‘Trophy’ red wine. From a total of 810 entries at the KWC 2017, the final tally of awards was 7 Trophies, 13 Best Countries, 113 Gold Medals, 179 Silver Medals, and 136 Bronze Medals. These wines will hopefully serve as superb guides for Korean wine consumers, showing the way in selecting fine wines.

KWC JURY MEMBERS SINCE 2005

Min-Seok Kyung

Hyo-Seok Ko

Yong Kim

Si-Bo Kim

In-Gyu Kim

Ju-Yong Kim

Jin-Yong Kim

Yoon-Kyu Park

Eun-Ae Park

Jong-Sub Park

Dong-Hyuk Shin

Doo-Hee Woo

Hye-Yun Woo

Yoon-Hee Lee

Jae-Min Lee

Jong-Hwa Lee

Chang-Geun Lee

Yoon-joo Jo

Young-June Choi

Eun-Sik Choi

Jong-Ae Choi

Sung-Il Han

Sung-Hee Han

Seung-Ho Hwang

Yong-Hee Kim

Hyeop Kim

Sun-Young Moon

Chang-Ho Moon

Ji-Gwang Park

Se-Jung Bae

Myung-Hee Song

Dong-Ik Shin

Jung-Hee Yang

Hyung-Woo Oh

Min-Young Yoo

Hyo-Jung Yoon

Paul Eun

Joo-Hyun Lee

Dae-Seong Jung

Nae-Jin Cho

Soo-Min Jo

Young-Hyun Cho

Hyun-Cheol Cho

John Choi

Jeong-Eun Choi

Sun-Pil Kang

Si-Gyun Kim

Chang-Mo Kim

Yang-Soo Jang

Lark-Mi Jung

Mi-Gyeong Kim

Min-Joo Kim

A-Lim Kim

Jun-Geun Kim

Jin-Seop Kim

Hyun-Soo Kim

Hui-Su Kim

Min-Wook Bak

Hyeong-Min Park

Seon-Yong Shin

Yoon-Ju Yang

Ga-Ram Lee

So-Ri Lee

Soo-Jung Lee

Seung-Hoon Lee

Joo-Hyeong Lee

Chang-Ik Lee

Woon-Kyung Jang

Hyi-Su Han

Jae-Kyung Hong

Sang-Gun Kim

Seok-Geun Kim

Seon-Hui Kim

Nathan Kim

Yeong-Uk Kim

Yong-Hyeon Kim

Yun-Ki Kim

Hyeon-Ju Kim

Hyung-Nam Kim

Hye-Ryeong Kim

Heung-Su Kim

Hee-Jeon Kim

Hae-Won Park

Gyeong-Seon Seo

Won-Seon Seo

Hee-Seok Suh

Yong-Ran Song

Dong-Hoon Shin

Chang-Min Shin

Jun-Hwan An

Hye-Sung An

Dae-Hoon Yang

Je-Gyu Woo

Byeong-Gyun Yoo

Seung-Min Yoo

Young-Jin Yoo

Il-Yong Yoon

Dong-Gu Lee

Dong-Gyu Lee

Sang-Jun Lee

Sang-Hoon Lee

Jung-Hoon Lee

Je-Hun Lee

Jun-Haeng Lee

Hyun-rae Lim

Mi-Hyun Jung

Jae-Hoon Jung

Ha-Bong Jung

Eul-Ho Cho

Tae-Ik Choi

Chang-Won Ha

Young-Il Han

Gyu-Yeon Ham

Sun-Ho Hwang

THE JUDGE COMMENTS

LEE DONG-GYU_HAEVICHI HOTEL & RESORT JEJU MANAGER

“I FEEL THE REPUTATION AND STATUS OF KOREA WINE CHALLENGE IN THE WORLD BECAUSE OF MANY PARTICIPANTS FROM UN-IMPORTED HIGH QUALITY WINES.”

LEE SEUNG-HOON_VINAFO OWNER SOMMELIER

“KOREA WINE CHALLENGE PROVIDES THE GUIDELINES FOR CONSUMERS TO SELECT THE WINES. ALSO, IT CAN HELP THE UN-IMPORTED WINES TO ENTER THE KOREAN MARKET.”

JUNG HA-BONG_JW MARRIOT HOTEL CHIEF SOMMELIER

“KOREA WINE CHALLENGE HAS IMPORTANT MEANINGS THAT THE KOREAN DIRECTLY SELECT THE BEST WINES THAT ARE DISTRIBUTED OR WILL BE DISTRIBUTED IN KOREAN MARKET FOR THE KOREAN CONSUMERS.”

EVAN GOLDSTEIN_U.S. MASTER SOMMELIER

“FROM MY UNDERSTANDING, THIS KWC IS THE MOST RESPECTED ARBITER OF TASTE IN KOREA.
THE PROFESSIONALISM AND SKILL UNDER WHICH THE KWC IS HELD ANNUALLY REAFFITMS THIS POSITIONING TO ME.”

DENIS GASTIN_INTERNATIONAL WINE JOURNALIST AND WINE CONSULTANT

“I FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT THE KWC HAS MADE A SOLID CONTRIBUTION TO THIS PROCESS OF EVOLUTION BY GIVING CONSUMERS AND THE WINE TRADE CAREFULLY CONSIDERED EVALUATIONS AND RANKINGS OF THE WINES THAT ARE SEEKING TO ENTER THE MARKET OR ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE WITHIN THE MARKET.”

JUDGING METHOD

THE JUDGEMENT SHEET FOR KOREA WINE CHALLENGE IS BASED ON THE RATING SYSTEM DEVELOPED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF ITALIAN SOMMELIERS[ASI] AND ADAPTED TO CONDITION-IN KOREA

EVALUATION METHOD - FOUR CATEGORIES OF JUDGING A WINE ARE APPLOIED IN A WEIGHTED SCALE TO A WINE AS EXPLAINED BELOW.

COLOR AND APPEARANCE

6 POINTS

AROMA AND BOUQUET

12 POINTS

FLAVOR AND FINISH

20 POINTS

HARMONY AND BALANCE

12 POINTS

BASIC POINT

50 POINTS (FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF PRODUCING THE WINE AND DELIVERING IT FOR THE COMPETITION)

TOTAL POINT 100 POINTS

※ ALL THE WINES ENTERING THE COMPETITION ARE RATED UNDER BLIND TASTIN SETTING. THE NOTES PROVIDED TO THE JUDGES CONTAIN ONLY THE MINIMUM INFORMATION ON THE WINE